Bangladeshi National’s Fake Passport Case Deepens; Cyber Cafe Operator, Caretaker Detained In Bhopal

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The STF team has detained Subhash, who was staying with Bangladeshi national Riyal Choudhary and working as a caretaker, and Vijay, the operator of a nearby cyber cafe (MP Online), for questioning.

It is suspected that Vijay allegedly prepared Aadhaar, residence and PAN documents of Choudhary and others. Two monks from Rajasthan staying at the monastery were questioned by officials.

Already arrested by STF, Riyal Choudhary's activities had appeared suspicious to locals living around Ashoka Buddh Vihar in Anna Nagar, where he had been staying for nearly one-and-a-half years.

Locals said Choudhary mostly remained busy talking on his mobile phone and rarely interacted with people in the neighbourhood. However, he was frequently seen sitting at the nearby cyber cafe.

Choudhary, a Bangladeshi national who had come to Bhopal around one-and-a-half years ago, had started living at a monastery as a follower but later assumed the identity of a Buddhist monk.

The investigation has revealed that Choudhary prepared Indian identity documents while staying at the monastery. These include Aadhaar card, PAN card, driving licence, voter ID, residence certificate and Class 10 marksheet.

Choudhary was allegedly planning to bring children from Bangladesh to Bhopal for education and arrange Indian documents for them.

The children were allegedly to be sent to countries such as Thailand, Myanmar, Japan and Cambodia later. A hostel with a capacity of 40 children was being constructed behind the monastery for this purpose.

Funding under probe

Choudhary also allegedly collected donations in the name of various activities and helping children.

Donation lists recovered from the monastery reportedly show contributions ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 1 lakh. The STF is also probing possible foreign funding.

Four passports of Choudhary

The STF has found that Choudhary obtained four passports at different times on the pretext of losing previous passports.

Investigators are now matching the documents, addresses and police verification records submitted with the four applications.

Suspicious documents linked to Betul, Chhindwara and Pandhurna and more than 100 passports are being examined.

Local cops under scanner

The role of 15 police officials involved in passport verification during 2021 and 2022-23 is also being examined.

Police Commissioner Sanjay Kumar said action would be taken against the personnel concerned after the STF submits a report.